Japan - 21st May 2013, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) is pleased to participate in the MM2H roadshow in Japan for the very first time. This roadshow is organized by the Tourism Malaysia Tokyo and will see a number of events lined up in Sendai, Yokohama, Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka from the 21st - 28th May 2013. The MM2H Programme caters for Japanese seeking residence in Malaysia. Thus, it is very apt and appropriate for MHTC to introduce medical tourism to those under the MM2H Programme as Malaysia offers quality medical services for Malaysians and foreigners alike.

MHTC is a corporate agency under the Ministry of Health Malaysia and was set-up to promote medical tourism. It currently has 72 top notched member facilities that provide tertiary care and offer procedures ranging from simple health screening to high end medical procedures like robotic surgery and the use of cyber knife in cancer treatment. In this roadshow, MHTC aims to explore with Japan the possibility of patient exchange and referral programs between private hospitals in both our countries. Besides this, MHTC would like to network with stakeholders such as the airline, insurance companies, travel agencies and health facilities for a seamless medical travel experience for our medical tourists and MM2H participants.

"The Government of Malaysia provides high quality medical services and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment that make Malaysia much sought after medical tourism destination", says Dr. Mary Wong, Chief Executive Officer of MHTC in Malaysia.

Malaysia has now gained popularity as a medical tourism destination of choice in the region as we saw a significant increase of medical tourists coming to Malaysia for the last 3 years. We received 392,000 healthcare travelers in 2010 and 671,000 in 2012, an accumulated growth rate of 63%. The competitive edge of Malaysia is that medical tourism industry is highly regulated by the government to ensure that foreign patients get quality and safe care. Apart from this, Malaysia also offers affordable pricing where the prices of procedures are capped and the same price applies to all medical tourists coming to Malaysia without discrimination.

Dr. Mary Wong further added that Japan is one of the top 3 countries that receive the most medical tourists after Indonesia and India. There has been a 20% growth in Japanese patients seeking medical treatment in Malaysia from 14,937 in 2010 to 17,775 in year 2012. Many of these Japanese coming for treatment are participants from the MM2H programme and their friends as well as relatives who have seen and experienced for themselves the high quality and value for money medical services that Malaysia offers.

MHTC is happy to announce that we are having the 2nd Malaysia International Healthcare Travel Expo 2013(MIHTE 2013) from the 20th-22nd of October 2013 at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, Malaysia. This event is a platform to bring together all stakeholders and partners in the medical tourism industry to explore, find synergies and have collaborative partnerships as well as create attractive product packages that offer end-to-end care for all medical tourists coming to Malaysia. The theme of this exposition and conference is experiencing the multifaceted world of medical tourism and we wish to share with you that there is a special workshop conducted fully in Japanese for our Japan stakeholders and any individual who is interested to know more about the medical tourism industry in Malaysia from door to door and what we offer. For more information, you may visit www.healthtravelexpo.com " Dr. Mary Wong further added.

We also have a dedicated call centre (MHTC Careline:-+603 272 68 688); operational from 9.00am-6.00pm; Monday to Friday to handle all enquiries on medical tourism in Malaysia which includes information on the procedures, relevant specialists for the type of treatment required, the prices, the accommodation and up to even making appointments. We also have e-mail support in the Japanese language ([email protected]) to facilitate your medical travel inquiries. Apart from this, Malaysia has been a very popular destination not only for the MM2H participants and medical tourists but also to holiday makers as we offer many other attractive services that the Japanese would feel comfortable in our country such as having hundreds of Japanese restaurants and cuisine, Japanese Clubs, Japanese schools, Japanese resorts and the array of shopping complexes available, thus making Malaysia a preferred medical tourism destination.

"We welcome all Japanese to come to Malaysia whether under the MM2H Programme or as a tourist and learn more about what Malaysia has to offer in terms of medical tourism. We also look forward to seeing more Japanese participants for our forth coming MIHTE 2013", said Dr. Mary Wong.

source:MHTC